Redd notches 29 points to sink Spurs

Michael Redd scored 29 points to get the reign of new Milwaukee Bucks coach Larry Krystkowiak off to memorable start last night by sending the San Antonio Spurs to their first defeat in 14 games.

Krystkowiak said he expected a strong effort from his players the first time out and they responded with an emphatic 101-90 victory.

"A lot of times, you get a little adrenaline and spark," said Krystkowiak, a Bucks assistant who was promoted and given a long-term deal hours after Terry Stotts was fired on Wednesday.

"I anticipated our guys playing hard."

So did Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who warned his players the Bucks would be firing on all cylinders for their new boss.

But Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were all off-key and Popovich groaned: "That's not going to happen very often. They're human beings, it can happen. But I'm more concerned with the lack of aggressiveness on both ends of the court."

Parker scored 15 points and played only 6:14 in the decisive fourth quarter. Asked if his guard was one of the players he was referring to when he talked about a lack of aggressiveness, Popovich stood silent and waited for another question to be asked.

"I didn't play well at all," Parker said. "I'll try to do better Saturday against the Boston Celtics."

Duncan had 13 points and 13 rebounds for his 36th double-double of the season but was only three-for-eight from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

"It's our obligation," Duncan said. "We have to play well and we didn't."

Ginobili scored 12 on two-for-ten shooting and admitted: "We played terrible. We've got to realise that the streak doesn't matter."

Popovich said the team's winning streak was obviously going to end at some point and now wants to see how his team will rebound from the loss.

The defeat follows a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers that the coach wasn't entirely pleased with, either and he said: "Eventually, you're going to have an off night but that doesn't mean that you like it, or accept it, or you just kiss it off. To have that poor of a mental focus or mental attitude two games in a row is disappointing."

Phil Jackson got fined £25,000 for accusing the NBA of having a vendetta against Kobe Bryant and then lost a seventh straight game for the first time in his 16-year coaching career in a day he will want to forget.

Linas Kleiza scored a career-high 29 points and Carmelo Anthony had 26 as the Denver Nuggets handed the Los Angeles Lakers their 13th loss in 16 games with a 113-86 blowout.

"That's great when you've got a guy coming off the bench contributing the way he has," Allen Iverson said of Kleiza, who scored 24 against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

"He never cares about starting or anything like that. When his opportunity comes, he's just always ready."

Kleiza shrugged off his career night and said: "It was just one of those games where the shots were going down. Melo and Iverson were doing a great job sharing the ball."

Kleiza was doing a great job putting it through the hoops, hitting ten-of-13 shots, including five-of-six from the arc.

Iverson couldn't have picked Kleiza out of a crowd when he came over from the Philadelphia 76ers three months ago but said the second-year forward was the catalyst for the Nuggets' biggest win since the trade.

"I didn't know who he was when I got here but I think a lot of people around the world know who he is now," Iverson said.

Iverson added 14 points and 13 assists and Marcus Camby had 11 points and 14 boards for the Nuggets, who moved into a tie with the Lakers for the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Bryant's 25 points led free-falling Los Angeles, who couldn't capitalise on the return of Luke Walton and Lamar Odom despite building a double-digit lead in the first half.

Anthony scored ten points in a 24-10 run that Denver used to close the third quarter and take an 87-72 lead and turn the game into a blowout. Even the Nuggets, who have lost ten games in which they led after three quarters, couldn't blow that big a lead.

Being glued to the bench with three fouls for most of the first half didn't sit well with Shaquille O'Neal and it showed in the second half against the New Jersey Nets.

A well-rested O'Neal scored 17 of his 19 points in the final two quarters and the Miami Heat won their eighth straight game with a 93-86 win.

"I was really upset," said O'Neal, who fended off a late Nets run with a basket in the lane with 1:07 to play.

"I felt like they tried to limit me, whoever 'they' may be. So I just said to myself third quarter I'm going to come out and do what I do."

O'Neal had plenty of help as the Heat won for the 16th time in 20 games and for the ninth time in 11 since Dwyane Wade went down with a shoulder injury.

"I think it helped us out in a strange way with the big fella being out with his knee injury early this year and now Dwyane being out," Haslem said when asked how the Heat have overcome so many injuries. "I don't think there's any situation that any of us haven't faced, any situation that makes us uncomfortable."

The win pulled Miami within a half-game of the Washington Wizards, who occupy first place in the Southeast Division.